Vinegar

a well known sour liquid described in science as acetic acid diluted with water. Vinegar is manufactured from wine, beer, malt juice, cider, beet-root juice, and diluted spirits, by causing the portion of alcohol which they contain to unite with oxygen. This action is brought about usually through the agency of a fermenting yeast or by minute animal forms called vinegar eels. Sprouting starts the starch of grain on the way to sugar; fermenting turns sugar into alcohol; a second fermenting converts dilute alcohol into vinegar. The best vinegar is made from cider. It usually contains enough of the necessary eels or ferment to turn it into vinegar; if not, some mother of vinegar is added to start the process. Vinegar is a well known appetizer,--used with boiled cabbage, fresh lettuce, beets, salads, and the like. Although in a way a bacterial production, vinegar is a decided preservative. It is used to pickle young cucumbers, the rinds of watermelons, sliced tomatoes, onions, peaches, pears, and many other articles for table use. Pure vinegar is entirely wholesome. Like other sours, it is considered an anti-fat article of diet. It is subject to shameless adulteration with cheap drugs. A cheap vinegar made from wood, like ether alcohol, is much used in the arts. The housekeeper should take the precaution of keeping vinegar in wooden, glass, porcelain, or unglazed earthenware. Combined with lead or copper, vinegar produces a deadly poison. For this reason it should not be allowed to stand in a brass or copper kettle. See Verdigris